{"product_id":"9781487529475","title":"Ships of State","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe ideological roots of the British Empire have been widely discussed in early modern studies, as have maritime settings in the period’s imaginative writing. However, these perspectives have not adequately accounted for how literature’s evolving representations of the common British seaman shaped the early stages of public discourse about Britain’s imperial endeavours. Filling that gap in scholarship, \u003cem\u003eShips of State\u003c\/em\u003e argues that literary representations of seaborne labour play a distinct and crucial role in the early formation of British imperial attitudes. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book analyses these representations across an array of popular genres: New World promotion tracts, civic pageantry, stage drama, and broadside ballads. These genres demonstrate how imaginative modes of discourse both reflected and influenced popular conceptions of the common seaman and, by extension, the national ambitions he represented. Placing these representations into dialogue with the larger national conversation about maritime expansion, \u003cem\u003eShips of State\u003c\/em\u003e sheds new light on the role of seaborne labour and its literary representations in creating and sustaining empire. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Laurie Ellinghausen","offers":[{"title":"University of Toronto Press |  Hardback  |  2024-05-15","offer_id":44652806406399,"sku":"9781487529475","price":75.0,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0329\/9075\/7001\/files\/BNCImageAPI_e419e7a3-35d8-4953-8e99-82c6042e976c.jpg?v=1704236286","url":"https:\/\/riverbookshop.com\/products\/9781487529475","provider":"River Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}